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Rhino 5 for Mac goes up in price in January so readers who have wanted to add this tool to their arsenal should probably grab this app now. This, plus we have additional notes on Rhino Mac development in general below.

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Rhino 5 for Mac pricing will rise come 1 January 2017, reports McNeel & Associates. In a newsletter to users they write, “Now that Rhino for Mac is nearly complete, the price will increase at the end of the year.”

Rhino 5 for Mac Pricing Change

Now is the time to lock in good price savings on the Mac version of Rhinoceros, a leading 3D modeling package that dovetails with the algorithmic design tool, Grasshopper.

New buyers can save 100-200.euro until 1 January 2017. A single, commercial license will be $695.USD come January but are currently $495.USD.

Educational licenses will rise to $195.USD but today until the end of the year are $95.USD. School kit pricing will also be available, and the educational lab pricing remains the same at $975.USD.

Rhino 5 for Mac Evolution

The Mac version of Rhino does have some differences, but McNeel has been making great progress adding in the components that truly make the Mac version a complete product. Last fall in 2015, when the product became a real commercial release (and not just a WIP release) support for third-party plugins, (via RhinoCommon Plugins / .NET), Rhino for Mac reached version 5.1.

01 – Rhino 5 for Mac has been a commercial release since September 2015 at a special lower price. That all ends 1 January 2017, when the price rises substantially. Meanwhile, Rhino 6 for Mac with its integration of Grasshopper is moving along nicely.

This past spring Rhino for Mac version 5.2 was released. This update added in the Layout feature, a major feature that architectural users in particular utilize. Architects have taken to Rhino with Grasshopper in droves since the algorithmic design revolution began several years ago and today Rhino is the leading advanced modeler used by top architecture firms worldwide. (see, Architosh, “How BIG’s influence can reframe the role of BIM in Architecture,” 18 Apr 2015).

Ending 2016 and 2017 and Beyond

Heading into the rest of the year McNeel will continue to enhance Rhino for Mac in the current version. When 1 January 2017 comes, the price goes up.

Version 5.3 will mostly be major bug fixes and refinements, says Belcher. Rhino for Mac may make better use of the new tabs feature in macOS Sierra.

Bob McNeel wrote into Architosh to add: “Most all of the Rhino for Mac development going forward will be focused on Rhino 6 for Mac.” The Seattle-headquartered software will likely not add any new major features to Rhino for Mac in versions 5.3 – 5.4.

However, Daniel Belcher says that Rhino 6 for Mac is another story and is “looking promising.” The company is also working on Grasshopper 1 which operates with the RhinoWIP for Mac. Belcher says it is very popular, as expected.

The key thing for Rhino fans to remember is that currently, McNeel is developing both Rhino 5 and Rhino 6, the latter being developed in a more cross-platform way. This will enable, hopefully, feature parity between the Mac and Windows version in Rhino 6 but not necessarily the same release dates. More to come…